Chemical and Fatty Acid Composition of Afzelia africana Seeds

摘要

The proximate, nutritionally valuable minerals, fatty acid and sugar composition of Afzelia africana were studied. The results showed that the sample contained moisture (5.72%), crude protein (44.5%), fat (18.9%), crude fibre (5.44%), total ash (4.93%) and carbohydrate (20.5%). The Afzelia africana has a high proportion of maltose (62.35mg in 100g sample) but low in glucose (l5.68mg in 100g sample) and fructose (l6.72mg in 100g sample) suggesting that it would be useful where low glyceamic index (GI) food is needed. The predominant mineral was potassium with the value of 831mg/kg followed by magnesium (781mg/kg), sodium (558mg/kg) and calcium (208mg/kg) while the sample was significantly low in copper (0.70 mg/kg) and manganese (2.60mg/kg). Stearic acid was the predominant fatty acid (9.20%), myristic acid was very low with value of 0.04%. It was observed that the total unsaturated fatty acid was 4.64% while the total saturated fatty acid was 12.8%.